Back to Orario we go. :)
Chapter 4
Everyone had returned home sometime before breakfast, but understandably, were too tired to actually HAVE breakfast with the one's who'd stayed home. That was fine, there was a lot to do, and I wanted a better idea of how to do them before an 'evening meeting'. So, after breakfast, I started to think on it.
"It's too early in the morning for pacing." Hestia said, holding one of my tails as I yet again fell into the habit of pacing next to her favourite chair at the dinner table.
"O-ma is thinking." Yumi said while leaning over to Yuki.
While they had my hair (black) and Haruhime's eyes (green), they were a little different in personality. Ironically, the one we'd named 'Dream' (Yumi) was apparently a morning person, while Yuki (Happiness) was not, taking her twin's proximity as an excuse to lean over a little and rest her head on her shoulder.
She was however, still awake enough to cover her mouth when she yawned, but made no other reply.
"I'm just wondering how I should go about asking the sisters for help." I replied, pausing as a little hand gripped the end of one of my tails, "Oh hello there Toshi."
My son, a mirror of Haruhime's gold hair and green eyes, liked to follow me around when he could. This might be because I would always give him a headpat when I looked up from whatever I was doing and noticed him.
"Hello O-ma." He smiled, hugging the tail he'd captured with all his might, then letting it go before my tail tried to wiggle free, and getting his headpat.
"What is the golden rule about questions?" Haruhime asked the room, "Ah, did you find Chime, Chie?"
Chie, blond haired and green eyed, Haruhime's daughter seemed to be taking interest in animals. She shook her head, "No Ha-ma, Chime found me. I think she wanted to see if there was any breakfast left?" She had to use both hands to lift Chime up to her face and get nose to nose with the champion mirco-bunny. Chime's reply was to wiggle forward a little and lick the end of Chie's nose. "Yup, that's it."
"You can only ask a bad question if you didn't listen to the first answer to it?" Black hair, gold eyes, Tatsuo was most often seen with Takemikazuchi, when he wasn't with the rest of them running about in the yard to play.
His fraternal twin, Tatsuko was quieter, and liked to read with Chigusa. She also liked to be helpful when ever she was nearby, like now, as she reached down from her chair to take hold of Chime and put her on the table.
"That's right Tatsuo." I said, "I just don't want to... I dunno... make demands or be insensitive."
"O-ma, Ha-ma! I found her!" Kei announced, walking hand in hand with Lilly into the dining room. Being a Palum, Lilly was only a little taller than our white haired, heterochromia'ed child. But, it was clear that Kei would probably be the little sibling to Lilly forever.
"Lilly was working on the equipment still." She pouted, applying a hair ruffle to Kei's mildly chaotic hair, "But it sounded important."
"Thank you Kei." Haruhime said, "You didn't sneak up on her again, did you?"
"I made sure to call her name every twenty steps!" Kei said proudly.
"Thank you for not hiding." I mumbled to Lilly, "Did you learn anything about Tiona and Tione? Aside from the usual?"
"Lilly only learned a little." She replied with an obvious sideways look.
The adults in the room caught on, and Haruhime perked up, "Let's go get ready for classes."
A very mixed reaction of 'awws' 'yays' and 'yawn' from the children, but they all got up from their places and followed Haruhime out. This left me with Hestia, Lilly and Chime at the table. So, I made sure Chime was finished with the lettuce leaf she was nibbling on and picked her up.
"Okay." I said, sitting down and pulling a chair over from the next spot so Lilly could sit closer, "What did you learn?"
Lilly spoke with her 'adult' voice, "I couldn't find out exactly why, but they left Telskyura before their tenth birthday, and were already level three by the time they got to Orario." Both Hestia and myself went wide eyed, and even Chime perked her ears straight up in surprise. "One of the older adventurers I asked even remembers when they joined Loki Familia, saying they'd only join the Familia who beat them."
"That's... pretty intense." I mumbled, patting Chime's ears back down and scratching that spot between them that she couldn't reach herself.
"They also reached level four before they were thirteen years old." Lilly added, once again making Hestia, Chime and myself go wide eyed/perky eared, "Right after their first dungeon expedition with Loki Familia."
"And by the age of seventeen, they both hit level six..." I mumbled, "That's really impressive."
"I think it just shows how different Amazon are than the adventurers in Orario." Lilly said, "But, how does this help?"
I applied a headpat to out best supporter, then put that same hand on her shoulder, "I don't want to ask them why. It might upset them. This way, I won't be as insanely curious."
"Lilly understands." Business done, she went right back into her old mannerisms. "Are you leaving soon?"
"As soon as you're done with the equipment checkup." I nodded, standing up and using my tails to pick Lilly up, "I'll even help."
"Yay!" Lilly laughed, "Did Chime want to come too?"
Chime, still in my other hand, looked longingly at the salad she had been eating the last of. So, I put her back on the table.
"Be careful." Hestia said, "I don't want to fill out any paperwork because of a misunderstanding."
"We'll do our best." Lilly and I said.
After making sure no one's armour needed a new strap, or a potion loop was empty, or a blade was dull, then giving Takemikazuchi a note with all the things Welf would have to look at when he woke up, Lilly and I headed to the Loki Familia home, the Twilight Manor.
Speaking of, Lilly was looking a little sleepy, but she'd only had a short nap after returning home. While she had been working on equipment inspection, she'd been gathering information for me, using the new 'multi stone' communication network. I had no idea how she'd managed to get a small network of informants set up without me noticing, but that was what made her the Best Supporter.
Thinking on it, there was probably a whole new market for 'information brokers' now that the new line of communication beads had been made... I mean, if you have two bits of glass that can only ever talk to each other, you'd just need a 'hub' like the one Ganesha had set up for reporting and cross city communications...
"Lilly has all the thinking tails." She said after a yawn.
"Just wondering if I've... gone a little to far with a few ideas of mine." I replied, telling my tails to stop pretending to be a fur coat.
"Miss Kodori only put the ideas out there. It's out of your hands now." She said, holding on to the last tail and hugging it like the pillow I knew she was missing.
"And thank you for working so hard for me." I added, "I suppose you already knew Finn wanted to see you after you got back?"
"Finn always wants to see me when I get back." She smiled, "But..."
Realizing I might have just touched a sensitive topic, I let Lilly decide on continuing or not.
"I..." She hmm'ed a moment, "I don't want to leave you without a supporter, but Finn..."
"You've more than earned some time off. Years off, if need be." I replied, catching on, "Retire if you have to." She looked horrified, but I waved it off, "We are here to support your choice, not push you into one."
She gave my tail one last hug, nodding into it, then let it go. "Lilly thinks she will have to teach her replacements faster." She laughed quietly.
Lilly and I stood at the gate of the Twilight Manor, looking up at its weird multi tower castle, "Lilly wishes you luck." She said, walking ahead of me and waving to the guards on either side of the gate.
The guards, just two of the many Loki Familia members, knew Lilly and I by sight, and waved with a cheerful salute. This would probably be at odds with the greeting I'd get -inside- the gates, but well...
So, I followed behind Lilly, hoping I wouldn't suddenly have to dodge a sword or something...
"Fox!" Loki's voice sounded strained, like she was pushing against a great weight, "You gotta help me!"
Turing towards the voice, in the direction of the Loki's small but well equipped training field, I saw something that I just couldn't help to laugh at.
"Hey no laughing! This is serious!" She grunted.
She was standing/leaning into Ais, as she walked towards the gate. Her little boots were sliding backwards over the nice cobblestone of the path as the Sword Princess just... walked. Of course, Ais was basically ignoring the little Goddess as she walked, stopping only when she saw me in her way. "Oh, Kodori." She nodded.
Loki flopped against Ais's front, exhausted from her feeble efforts to slow down Ais. I managed to stop giggling and nodded to her, "Ais, going to visit?"
"Is he not there? I saw Lilly..." She asked.
"Hey! No! Not allowed to go!" Loki protested.
"They got back before dawn. He's probably still sleeping, but if you wanted I could wake him up for you?" I shrugged, "He'll be taking the day off anyhow."
"Could you? I..."
Ais was one of those people who just... didn't communicate well. She wasn't emotionless, or shy, or any number of things that would outright hinder 'social' communication. It was more like... she just had trouble expressing herself. Her personality was very... quiet. Like she was still figuring out how to be emotional. I was actually quite pleased that she'd held a real conversation with me just now.
"He'll be happy to see you." I nodded, "Now Loki, did you want something? Or are you just stomping on my foot for fun?"
Angry micro-Goddess 'grrrr'ing was my only reply, aside from some more kitten foot stomps on my poor boot. This changed as Ais gave me one of her small smiles and turned to walk past us to the street, and she once again leaned into Ais to try and stop her.
"You're not being very fair you know." I commented as Loki was pushed along.
"Stay out of it Fox!" Loki groaned as Ais pushed her just off property.
This gave me an idea. I went over to them, and picked up Loki by the collar. "Oh no, Lady Loki, it is dangerous to walk without escort in Orario." I then turned a neat 180, and put her back onto Her property, "Let me escort you back home."
Ais of course used that opportunity to jump to the nearest rooftop and make a bee line towards the Manor. "That's not playing fair!" Loki grr'ed again, "What are you even here for anyhow?" Followed by more angry foot stomps.
Tired of getting my boot scuffed by an angry kitten, I put my hands on her shoulders and dug my fingertips in just a tiny bit. "Now, Lady Loki, if you ever wanted to earn a favour from me, this would be a good start." My fingers played a little along the back of her neck, "But I'm actually here to talk to someone as well."
"Nooo... that's cheating..."
The two guards were very quietly laughing at just how easily I'd turned their Goddess 'off', but were quick to look away when Loki tried to raise her head to glare at them. "Not at all. You're their Goddess, so I should at least talk to you first before just demanding their time."
I quickly put Loki behind me, wrapping her up in my tails. I then moved my legs apart and bent my knees, bracing myself and raising my arms to fend off two airborne attackers.
Tiona, her massive double sword/staff (called 'Urga') slammed into my left bracer, while Tione's paired Kukri came down on my right bracer. The force of it buckled the cobblestone under my feet, strained my shoulders and I might have unintentionally squeezed Loki a little... But I held them up in the air for a moment before throwing my arms out and pushing them away. The instant the two of them hit the ground, they both sprang back at me.
Well, if a lesson is what they wanted...
Instead of getting caught in the middle of what looked to be the start of a 'spinning cross slash' from Tiona (the less busty), and a 'trap jaw' top left/bottom right manoeuvre from Tione (the busty), I hopped backwards with a bit of room to spare. The two of them passed right in front of me, looking at me with anger, but I sprung forward again, both my arms wide.
My arms wrapped around them, weapons and all, like a big bear about to maul someone. "GIRLS!" I said, greeting them as if they hadn't just tried to kill me. "Just the people I wanted to see!" I of course continued to apply the pressure until they started to groan with effort, trying to push my arms apart or get their arms free to elbow me.
"Let... us... GO!"
"We're not... interested!"
But, my grip was unbreakable. Instead of keeping that up though, and risk one of them cutting themselves on their own weapons, or cutting me with them, I let them go. They backed off a half pace ready to go for another round, but one of my tails went under my coat and delivered something to my hand.
I held the Iron Tusk dagger, point down in my fist, "I have a problem, and I came to talk." I said.
Before either of them could reply, "can I go now? I can't move." Loki mumbled from someplace in my wealth of tails. "Oh no, this is okay too." She added when my tails relaxed around her, laying her flat against my back so she could cling to me like a red haired koala.
"Why do you have that?!" Tione demanded, her knuckles going white around her kukri.
"Because someone tried to infiltrate my home, got caught, and threw it at me when I found her." I said plainly, "I of course have taken great offence at this, and am looking for clues on who it was."
"It wasn't us!" Tiona growled.
I growled back, my nerves starting to fray a little as well, "I know that!" I suddenly wanted to grab them both by what passed for a shirt on both of them and shake them or something, "I know who you are, and the instant you step onto my property, I know you're there." I took a breath to calm down a little, "I've already talked to a few people, and we're pretty sure its a Scout from Telskyura."
They both went a little pale, then bright red with anger again, "If you've pissed them off, it's your own fault! Why are you bothering us!?" Tione shouted.
"Because she's a mama fox, and there are a dozen Amazon mothers living in their east wing?" Finn suggested, walking out of the Twilight Manor, "Tione, Tiona. Problem?"
Lilly gave me a shy wave from beside Finn, and behind them, I could see Riveria stepping out onto the walk as well, "The repairs to the walk will come out of your share." She said severely.
The sisters growled, but didn't argue.
"Yes, I do have a dozen Amazon mothers on premise." I said, "And the intruder knows it too it seems."
"So? Little Amazons have to come from somewhere! What's so special about these ones?" Tiona asked.
I didn't say anything, but looked past them to Finn. He shrugged, and 'admitted' to what was essentially spying on us as well. At least, in a round about way. "Since I visit more often, I have to say those children are quite special, much like their fathers."
It was true that many of the Loki Familia (and other Familia for that matter) came over to train with us in the mornings. But, we'd always been careful about 'the school wing' of the building. Both the Amazons and the residents agreed to keep the children hidden while we had guests. It was likely that Finn had spotted one at some point, and took note. But being much smarter than most people gave him, or any other Palum credit for, he kept it to himself.
"So that's why..." Loki mumbled.
The two Amazon clued in as well, "No... that's impossible!"
"You're welcome to visit, but only if you swear you will help." I said, "Otherwise I'll leave you out of this."
"Can I come too?" Loki mumbled into my ear, her arms hugging my neck when I gave her back a pat with a tail.
The sisters thought about it a moment, then nodded, "Fine, we'll help."
"Thank you, now here's what happened..." And I started walking back towards the Manor.
When we got back to the Hearthstone Manor, I was greeted at the gate by Hestia. Before I could even greet her, she 'grr'ed her way up to me and started to stomp on my foot.
"Ah, the trials of a big sister, hmm?" Finn teased.
"Lady Hestia." I said gently, putting on my very best Akeno smile, "There is room on my back for you as well, if you wish?"
Hestia seemed puzzled by my words, but looked up to see Loki there, waving sullenly back at her, "Let me guess, they've gone on another date?"
"YES!" Hestia looked up away from Loki, then to my face, then took a half step backwards. I'd gotten better at the 'Akeno Smile' "That's cheating..." She pouted at me.
"They are grown adults." I said, "And all parents must one day let their Children go. Now... do I have to put you in the timeout spot too?"
"no"
"Good." I said, walking by, but using a couple of tails to give my favourite Goddess a hug, "Have they gotten back yet?"
Hestia gave my tails a pat, "They're visiting." She looked up at me, "Wait, but..."
"They're going to help." I said, "So they're visiting too."
"Oh! Well... that's okay then. Careful though, some of them are getting teeth in." Hestia sighed.
So long as you didn't think too hard about -why- there were twelve very attractive women around two very tall muscular men, the sight of the Oni playing with the children was rather wholesome. The Oni, Okakai (Hill of Red), and Fukawa (Deep River), were true Sons of Shuten Doji. Much like their cursed father, they were much like the Oni of legend. Just over two metres tall and muscular enough to be the masterwork of any sculptor, they were fearsome warriors, expert tacticians, and if you put them together, they were the equal of anything I'd ever met on the battlefield, including me.
Before coming here, they'd been blood red, and midnight blue. Much like their names suggested. Now however, after they'd taken the falna of Takemikazuchi, they had lightened somewhat. Okakai's crimson was now a light rose colour, while Fukawa had become a methane blue. This change happened after Takemikazuchi's blessing had... softened the curse of their blood.
A couple of years later however, they'd continued to change just a little. Their tusks and teeth had straightened out, like some divine dentist had given them a look. The horns on their head (Okakai only had one, while Fukawa had two) had gotten a little longer too. The first change was from a crude spike of black bone. But now they'd become sharp, curved, and polished works of art to match the rest of them. They were NOT delicate however, and the last person to think so needed a new sword forged... after they paid their medical bills for trying.
But, even as fearsome as they were, they sat in the middle of their children, and those children's mothers, and just... played with them. Lifting them up, giving nose boops, tickling, using one of their huge hands to wrestle or encourage them to crawl.
And they were laughing. A pleased seismic sound that was one part mirth, one part earthquake.
Tiona and Tione broke me out of my amused Oni watching with a breathless, "Impossible..."
Their voices drew the attention of the Amazon mothers, but once they saw me with them they relaxed. Why the tension? Well... Amazon will -always- bear a daughter, and the 'marks' left by the father will always be minimal. Maybe odd eye or hair colour, or a build other than 'tall and athletic'. But the Oni also carried a similar trait. It was incredibly rare for Oni to father anything but a boy, and they ALWAYS bore the mark of Shuten Doji's curse.
So, to lighten the mood, I asked, "What? The horns? The skin colour? Or the two biggest men in Orario laughing like kids along with their children?"
Because yes, the children's 'minimal markings'... weren't. All of them had anywhere between one and four horns, and their skin colours ranged from robin egg blue to blood red. And now that they'd started to really grow teeth, a couple of them were showing the first signs of tusks.
"Now I know why you've kept them secret. Lemme go Fox! I wanna see!" Loki tried (and failed) to wiggle out of my tails, but I did let her go after a moment.
"I've... never seen this before." Riveria said, "This explains why someone might target them."
The Oni looked at me seriously, and I nodded, "I promised they'd be safe here. And I meant it. But, I'm not above asking for help." I walked with Loki over to the Oni, knelt among the Amazons, "Of course, it helps that they're cute." I booped a nose or two, "Have you been given the explanation?"
"We have." The two Oni replied, "We are ready to defend them as well, at least, after we stand up again."
"Good." I nodded, before looking down and squinting at one of the children as she chomped on my finger. "Once everyone wakes up, we'll have the usual meeting and figure out how to deal with this."
Okakai frowned, "Politics?"
Hestia sighed, "Yes."
By late afternoon, everyone had woken up, eaten something, and been given the same explanation as everyone else. Now up to speed, we could all work on the problem. Except, we couldn't really come up with anything practical that didn't involve the presence of the intruder.
"Yeah, unless we find out who the Scout is, or her handler, we're kind of stuck." Aisha grumbled, "Aside from drawing up a battle circle or something, but that's really illegal here."
The representative from out Amazons (who had a sleeping two horned greened skinned child hanging in a pouch on her front) and the two Amazon sisters frowned and shook their heads. The rest of us however had the obvious question on our faces.
"Two enter, one leaves." Tione said, "Unless you want something from them before you kill them or enslave them for life."
Most of us looked horrified, but Finn commented with, "Ah, and since murder of any kind and slavery are forbidden in Orario..."
"And the loser generally doesn't live under slavery long either." Tiona added, "Especially if they've been crippled."
"Okay, so no 'stick'." I said, not commenting on the Amazon culture, "What about a 'carrot'?"
"Well, who ever it is probably wants to see the little ones." Mikoto said, "While I hardly suggest we put them in danger, perhaps a little more exposure?"
"A secret loses value as more people learn of it." Takemikazuchi agreed, "But, this raises the question of motive."
"If..." Our liaison to the other Amazon started, giving her child's fuzzy head a pat, "If they already know, then there are really only two options. Theft or murder." The poor woman would probably be underage for motherhood back on Earth, but this was likely her second child. "But... if she doesn't, then..."
"We can protect them, right?" Bell asked, "Maybe... limit how many go out?"
Most of us nodded, "What about..." Ouka mumbled, "What about doing that, but keeping eyes on them from someplace else?"
"A scout learns to hide in plain sight, and spot things that are trying to remain hidden." Tione grumbled, "There's no way you could keep hidden from them, while trying to spot them as well."
"We learned how to do that kind of thing before we were five years old." Tiona added.
"Could have fooled me." Aisha teased, "But they're not wrong. Even if we know the streets, they're used to working with a lot less when it comes to stealth."
The Alliance Core looked at each other, then back to the Amazon sister, "I think we can do it, Miss Tione, Miss Tiona." Bell said for us all, "We're... kind of used to sneaking around..."
"Would you like a hand then?" Finn asked, "This sounds like fun."
"Lilly will get a set of speaking stones!"
One of the big problems with being famous in Orario, was that everyone knew what you looked like. This was a good thing, and a bad thing. For example, all of the Alliance Core (Hestia, Takemikazuchi and Astraea Familia) got a small discount at just about every shop in the market.
Of course, it also meant that people could track your movements, or pick you out in a crowd. In some cases, this was a good thing. Ganesha Familia wore the same uniform, and if there was trouble, you wanted to be able to spot the 'police'. But, if you wanted to be sneaky...
So we had to take special measures.
Lilly, the Best Supporter, could easily be called a spymaster. However, she'd only correct you once before kicking you in the shin if you called her that. She had a special magic that allowed her to change almost everything about herself. She couldn't get much taller, but she could changer her face, gender, race and voice. Sometimes, as a favour, she'd give herself fuzzy ears for me to pat, or a tail to brush.
Mikoto, was an expert at hiding and evasion. Never call her a 'ninja', but she could do the 'leap into nothingness' that most ninja could do in an Anime. I could do it, sure, but I used my speed and strength to do it. She had something... special.
Maki and Delly, one a half Kitsune and the other a former Fairy. Maki used Genjitsu ('reality arts'), to hide her presence and become basically invisible to all but the keenest eye. Delly however used actual magic to do it. Maki still made sound however, while Delly could mask that as well.
Then there was me...
Being a full blooded Kitsune, there were things I could do that only Maki and -maybe- Haruhime could do. Aside from changing myself into a fox, like the two of them could. I could also change just about anything, like Lilly could. There were some limits, and one thing I couldn't change at all, but otherwise...
"I really should be practising this more..." I mumbled to myself as I looked into the big mirror in our room.
Haruhime, standing beside me, hmm'ed up at me, "You simply have a strong sense of self." She smiled, "Though... I'm kind of glad you don't do this often."
"You love it when I let you sleep on me as a fox." I smiled back at her, closing my eyes and thinking of a different face, the feeling of taking a slip of fabric away from my skin following.
"You're so warm and soft though..." She pouted, "Not like now..."
"True. It feels very strange without my usual shape." I nodded, taking a breath and working on my voice, "Ahh, ahh, ahh?"
"Seeing you without your tails is...almost as odd as seeing you as a man..." She hid her mouth behind the sleeve of her kimono, "Aside from the occasional full moon..."
I gave myself one last look, the image of a reasonably tall, perfectly average man looking back at me. Unlike Lilly, I had to work on each detail one at a time still. Aside from the tails, and my ears at least. "Well..." I turned to Haruhime and gave her a hug. I made sure to wiggle a little so that one of her legs was between mine, "There is one thing I can't change, aside from the occasional full moon."
She blushed and pushed against me gently, "Ko-san!" She pouted, "When you return, we can discuss that, but you have to catch up to them."
"Yes, my lady." I bowed, "Hmm, well, at least Welf washed these recently..." I put on an orange shirt and faded brown leather pants over my all black 'mana cloth' body suit. "Maybe I'll borrow a sword or something... I feel like a sailor."
Haruhime laughed, "Well... sailors do visit the entertainment district after a long voyage."
"I won't be gone that long. Ever again, if I can help it." I looked at her, "Give them a call?"
"Right." She picked up a small bit of glass that had been capped on both ends with a bit of leather and string, making a neat little necklace, "Ko-san will be out soon, she just has to get a little equipment."
Finn's voice spoke through the glass, "Ah, even the Demon Fox needs more time to get ready than a man would."
Lilly spoke next, "Lilly heard that!"
"Am I wrong? Anyhow, be swift, they are almost there." Finn continued.
I knelt so Haruhime could put the necklace around my throat, boop my nose, and give my rear a push as I turned to our balcony door.
The plan, in theory was simple. A couple of the Amazon mothers would go visit Samira in the Entertainment District. Following them from the rooftops would be Delly and Maki. Being able to stay invisible as long as she wanted (more or less) allowed Delly to be the first 'surprise' for anyone who wanted to cause trouble. Maki, not as sneaky, but still basically invisible, would be a little behind them.
Next would be Lilly. She had gone ahead of them, disguised as 'just another potential customer'. She'd blend into the crowd, maybe enter a gambling hall, and keep track of the two Amazon as they continued on.
I would enter the Entertainment District last. Just another plain looking face, looking for some fun. I would be the 'first responder' should trouble happen.
And, if there was trouble, Finn, Tiona, Tione and Aisha, each with a couple of the others (Bell, Takemikazuchi Familia, Riveria) would converge on the target. If it happened the same way as last time, and the woman fled, there would already be a net in place. But, we weren't going to capture her, no, we were going to follow her and find out where she was hiding. Then we might be able to get to the bottom of this.
And just in case someone got the idea in their head to attack the Manor? Well, the Oni were still playing with their children...
NOTES!
Getting set up for some mission improbable. :) Look for a little more action in the next one, and then we'll see who's under the mask, and after those pesky kids!
Daeore on Ko-fi if you want to see Kodori art! (and maybe toss a coin my way).
Daeore on Inkitt, if you want to read my book, 'Were Too?'